“REALLY? That’s hilarious. This whole time I’ve been going through this call I’ve just been thinking how *I* suck and that I should be HELPING you but I’m really just hurting you and this is all MY fault.”

By the time she’d finished her sentence, my mentor (who was listening in on the call to help me with training) was laughing. Loudly.

He finished laughing and burst out, “This is too hilarious. I’ve been listening to you two go back and forth and the whole time I was thinking, “WOW!! This is AWESOME!! What an incredible learning experience! It sure would have been unfortunate if this call had been an easy one because Erin wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn anything…”

Whoa.

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

Something I’d read a million times FINALLY “clicked” in my brain:

We go through our lives, attaching our own story/conclusion to

EVERY. SINGLE. EXPERIENCE. we have.

Tens of thousands of times a day.

We then—in an INSTANT—immediately begin acting, feeling emotions, experiencing self-talk, and making decisions as if the first conclusion we come to is *THE* TRUTH and the only truth.

Just like how my first conclusion (when my friend was struggling to answer my questions) was, “Obviously I’m just bad at this and it’s not worth anyone’s time to continue.”

I believed my conclusion instantly.

And I started acting like it was true. (“Let’s END this call.”)

Are you able to catch yourself—just ONCE—today, reaching a conclusion and then instantly believing it?

Try it.Catching yourself.Just once.

Catch yourself concluding, “He hates me” when you don’t get an email. (Could he have forgotten?)